To make your iPhone app a success, you not only have to be a smart developer — you also need to be a savvy marketer. Tim from LogYourRun.com is both and shares his strategy for maximizing sales of his LogYourRun app.

It’s another example of trying something new with how you sell your app. If it doesn’t work as you expect, try something else.

Learn from Tim’s experiences with choosing to make his app free or paid — and how it paid off for his popular app.

Marketing Your App: How did you make the leap into creating an iPhone app?

Tim: I am an independent software developer and I run a website called LogYourRun.com.  About a year ago I decided to supplement the site with an iPhone app since the iPhone has GPS and the iPod touch has the capabilities of a pedometer.

MYA: Choosing a price is difficult for many iPhone developers. What did you decide to price the LogYourRun app?

Tim: I have always believed that the best things in life are free so I put the app out for free.

As many other developers have experienced, this resulted in a series of poor ratings from people that downloaded the app but was not really interested in the functionality of the app and when they delete the app they are asked to rate the app.

MYA: What did you do?

Tim: Since the first edition of the app was released I had been working on an improved version which would use the map feature as well as download training programs to the device.

When I launched this version I decided that I was not going to give it away for free due to the ratings problem that plague free apps. But I did not want to deter people from getting the app since the app drives traffic to my site and I wanted loyal users to have a chance to get the app for free.  So I put the app out for free but with the clause that it was only going to be free for the first 2 weeks.

This information was widely distributed to my users and posted on my website.  This meant that people would not delete the app after downloading since they would then have to pay if in the future they wanted the app – thus no ratings would be submitted.

After two weeks I increased the price to $1.99.  Downloads immediately dropped – but has since increased again – and now I am actually making money on the downloads.

I have since then also put out a free version with limited functionality which has helped drive traffic to my website as well as to the paid app.

I can share that it definitely worked to charge for the app – all of my reviews are 4-5 stars now and I have very good retention of users. You can read more about my adventures at http://blog.indieiphonedev.com/

The LogYourRun app is available in the App Store by clicking on this link .

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How do you turn an innovative app into a worldwide success? That is exactly what many iPhone developers are trying to do, so we wanted to share with you the story of a Japanese developer with global aspirations.

Helping MotionPortrait spread the word is Mark Lytle Hiratsuka, who explained how thinking big can help your app connect with customers no matter where they are.

Marketing Your App: Could you tell me about the HourFace and PhotoAvatar iPhone apps?

Mark Lytle Hiratsuka: Basically, working with Tokyo developer MotionPortrait on two apps based on their existing technology, we quickly realized a lot of iPhone users probably had no idea how powerful their handsets really are.

While the photo-aging app HourFace is likely the more impressive end product, its follow-up, PhotoAvatar , probably has more going on technically in terms of the impressive image manipulation at work, all of it taking place in the ‘cloud’ before being sent back to the iPhone.

In a nutshell, both apps take a still photo – either from the camera or the photo roll – and morph it into an attention-hogging animated 3D ‘movie’. HourFace spits out an older version of you, a friend or whoever, while PhotoAvatar turns them into a variety of alien creatures.

MYA: How have these two apps been promoted so far?

MLH: The difficulty with promoting such technically impressive apps, however, lay in the fact that any review is basically just going to say “Wow – these work!”, leaving the issue of how to speak directly to potential customers and get them firing up iTunes.

Fortunately, as we all know, that’s precisely where the social networks like Twitter excel these days. In our case, we leveraged an even broader – and dare I say it – better online tool in the shape of Posterous.

My personal Posterous blog not only quickly drew about 4,000 page views for each app posting, but also pushed the stories out to Twitter, Facebook and plenty more — boy, is this thing flexible!

The upshot? Both apps from an obscure Japanese developer hit the iTunes App Store charts worldwide from the US to Chile within 48 hours, driving sales we’re only now finding time to start counting! Color us impressed.

Both apps are available in the App Store by clicking these links: HourFace and PhotoAvatar

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iPhone users love games and developers have created them by the thousands. Gaming is a huge money-making opportunity for developers, but it also presents a significant challenge: how do you make your game stand out?

The iPhone app development company bees4honey, which successfully sells several games in the App Store, uses everything from videos to widgets to spread the word. Konstantin Panchenko shares the company’s strategy for marketing their puzzle game iQBloxing and gives you the insider tips to help you sell your own app.

Marketing Your App: What is your app?

Konstantin Panchenko: So, the name of our app is iQBloxing. It’s a very addictive game. Basically, it’s a puzzle game, but it is very dynamic.

You may know the Flash game which inspired us to create iQBloxing, this game is Bloxorz. You can also take a look at YouTube video of iQBloxing gameplay.

iQBloxing is free, but contains an InApp Purchase option to unlock all levels and achievements. There are 7 levels for free, and 33 total levels.

MYA: What have you done to promote your game?
KP: We’ve done many thing to promote our app, such as:

1. Created a YouTube video and put it on our site’s header, on the iQBloxing promo page, and posted about this video in our blog. Also we submitted this video to some review sites, which provide an option to post the YouTube link.

On YouTube, we found the Bloxorz videos (original Flash game) and made a video reply with our iQBloxing video, so people who are interested in Bloxorz can also see that there is an analogous game on the iPhone. I suppose it would be much better to have lots of iQBloxing videos, so we can make more video replies, but unfortunately we have only one.

2. Submitted to numerous review sites. Most of them will never post reviews until you pay them, but there are also some nice and good-looking sites, like FreshApps. But anyway I’m not sure that review sites, excluding the major ones, are effective.

3. Registered on the most valuable iPhone-related forums, such as MacRumors, iPhoneDevSDK, etc. We created posts about iQBloxing and our company and put short, non-obtrusive ads in our account’s signature. In total we get about 1,000 views of the iQBloxing post – it’s free and doesn’t take too much time.

4. We created something like a widget for our blog. It shows all our apps available on the App Store. Site visitors can easily access our apps in the App Store by just clicking on the iTunes link in this widget. Judging by statistics, we have small sales from this.

5. We have a Twitter account where we post all our news. We are trying to grow our followers base to increase the effect from Twitter.

6. We embedded ad banners in our free game Brain Twister. This banner is linked to iQBloxing on the App Store.

7. Every app we submit to the App Store has a “More Games” section which contains direct links to all our apps on the App Store.

MYA: Are you planning to release a paid version of your game?

KP: We are going to create a paid version of this game – iQBloxing Pro – with more levels and I suppose we will post some promo codes in forums. I think we’ll try this idea – create a “premium users” group. These guys will receive promo codes for every one of our paid apps via email as soon as the app hits the App Store. Premium users would post an iTunes review for our app. Not sure if it will work well, but we are going to try it.

MYA: What tips do you have for developers who are looking to sell their iPhone apps?

KP: Having a good, high-quality product is only a half of success, the other half is marketing. Create a useful program which helps users and try to get as much as exposure as possible. Work hard and you’ll reach success!

iQBloxing is available in the App Store by clicking on this link

Calling all iPhone app developers: Would you like your app featured on this blog? Find out how

Understanding your customer is one of the most important parts of marketing your iPhone app, and it is an advantage that Mark Johnson is banking on as he sells his financial iPhone app.

Even though the stock market can be a roller coaster, prospects for the app Wall Street are looking up because of the work Johnson is doing to promote his app. Learn how he came up with the idea, his advice for submitting your app to review sites, and how to get App Store shoppers to hit “buy”.

Marketing Your App: What is your app and what have you done so far to promote it?

Mark Johnson: The name of my app is Wall Street. Wall Street lets users research financial markets when they’re on-the-go.

Users can make their own stock portfolios, look at historical charts, apply analysis tools to the charts, look up company and global news, get price quotes on currencies and commodities, and more.

So far, to market my app, I’ve started to use Google AdWords, word-of-mouth, made a promotional website, and posted on just about every iPhone app website that exists.

MYA: Who is your audience for this app and how did you choose this audience to serve?

MJ: I’m gearing this app towards young professionals who would like market information when they may not always be sitting at a computer. I started writing Wall Street when there was really only Apple’s Stocks app, and I just wanted something better.

At the time, I needed a way to maybe look at stock charts, get commodity quotes, and even take a quick look at currencies. Generally, I think this app can be useful to anyone who could use mobile market data.

MYA: Based on your experience, would you have any advice for developers submitting their apps to review sites?

MJ: Make your app as clean and bug-free as possible. Of course, there will always be some unavoidable bugs. Still, it’s never a good feeling when you want to show someone your app, and it crashes right when you open it.

On another note, if you can’t think of any new ways to market your app, then buy other people’s apps and visit other developers’ websites. Developers are smart people, and they are always finding new ways to get their apps sold and onto iPhones. Take a look and see what other developers are doing, and maybe spark some ideas of your own.

MYA: Do you have any other advice for app developers who are selling their apps?

MJ: The one tip that I would give other iPhone developers is that they should not expect their apps to sell themselves. Customers like to feel comfortable when they buy something. Customers do not like to feel like they’re taking a risk on an app that might just have a good screenshot. Marketing is the best thing an iPhone developer can do to sell their apps.

Wall Street is available in the App Store by clicking on this link

Do you have an iPhone app? Would you like to see it featured on this blog? Find out how.

Everyone knows they should keep track of their money, but many people think it’s a chore. How do you make an iPhone app to make it easier, and then get people excited about it?

That was the challenge for Sandro Pennisi, whose iPhone app MoneyBook makes it simple (maybe even fun) to keep tabs on your expenses. From building a Twitter following to creating a website, Sandro has found many ways to spread the word and build interest.

Learn his secrets for promoting MoneyBook, including how to easily make a slick video showing your app in action.

Marketing Your App: What is your app and what does it do?

Sandro Pennisi: Our app is named “MoneyBook” and is a beautiful, simple and usable financing app. It helps keeping track of expenses and your budget.

So we wanted to create an app that is both powerful and usable because we think there are too many apps which try to be a desktop app on a mobile phone. But I think that’s the problem, they forget the user and the usage scenario. It’s a mobile phone and not a desktop. On a phone you spend only a few seconds with an app, maybe also because you’re on the road etc…

I think this is one important thing for iPhone developers. Their app has to make something better than the others.

MYA: What have you done to promote your iPhone app?

SP: Of course we did everything to promote it, with writing review sites etc., and we got a couple of reviews, which helps a little. But the problem is, most of these review sites aren’t really well known and haven’t many readers. So it’s not always helpful.

Twitter is one of the biggest things we did. We started with 0 followers and now we’re nearing 200 followers in a month or so. I think it’s important to always reply on feedback and questions and show to the people that you’re actively developing it.

We also have a blog and we found this is a very good way to stay in touch with the community. We  announce new features there and comment on all things about our app.

MYA: Your YouTube video looks great and it’s a good idea for developers to show their app in action. How did you create it?

I recorded the screen with the great ScreenFlow app for the Mac. So while I was clicking on the iPhone Simulator, the app recorded the screen. And then I did all post processing also in ScreenFlow. It has possibility to replace the mouse cursor with this big white dot. You can zoom in, zoom out, fade in images, background music. Almost everything you need.

Sure it’s not as cool as an Apple iPhone ad but we tried our best, also we tried to keep the video as short as possible. I think nobody wants to watch 5 minutes of a video. 45 seconds or so are perfect in my opinion.

MYA: What tips do you have for developers who are trying to sell their apps?

I think if you have a good product, make some promotion, and stay in touch with the community, then success will come.

MoneyBook is available in the App Store by clicking this link

Do you have an iPhone app? Would you like to see it featured on this blog? Find out how.

If you are trying to figure out the best ways to market your iPhone app, you are not alone. Every app developer has to figure out how to make their software stand out among 100,000 competitors in the App Store.

We want to make it a little easier for you in our new occasional series of case studies from app developers who have been there – and are succeeding.

One example is Dan Nelson, who uses everything from a slick video trailer to old fashioned word of mouth to sell his iPhone app BATAK Duel

Marketing Your App: What is your app and what does it do?

Dan Nelson: BATAK Duel is our first iPhone and iPod touch game. It tests reaction, hand-eye coordination and dexterity skills to their absolute limits. In the game you face 10 challenging opponents whom you must defeat in order to win your freedom from slavery.

MYA: What have you done to market your app?

DN: Lots of different things.  Telling everyone I personally know about the game, yes, even my postman!  Submitting numerous press releases to the media. I have also created a promotional website and a promotional video on YouTube. And submitting to numerous ‘app review’ sites.

MYA: What tips do you have for developers who are trying to sell their apps?

DN: I would say don’t just launch your app and then sit back expecting to cash in, in most cases this just won’t happen.  Be as proactive as possible in getting the word out, spend a couple of hours a day marketing your app and don’t give up!

You should notice that the more you promote your app then the more it will sell, so just keep promoting it.

Also, make sure you create an official website for your app and include a development blog
and Twitter support.

Finally, make sure you support your app by returning all customers’ emails (be polite!), fixing bugs as required and adding new features to your app.  If you do all of this then you should do very well indeed.

BATAK Duel is available in the App Store by clicking this link

Do you have an iPhone app you would like to see featured on this blog? Find out how.